I want to live a life that is both happy and long. If I have a structural disease that could be fixed with an operation - for instance a cancer or an aortic aneurysm - I'd like to know whether my long and happy life is more likely with or without surgery. And I don't just want to know whether I'll be alive or dead in 30 days, which is the most common published metric of surgical success or failure. I have developed a tool that accurately predicts survival years after repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm and that helps patients decide whether to have surgery or not. The tool also explains how one piece of research has been misunderstood, a misunderstanding that has resulted in two general mistakes: surgeons operating on aneurysms when they should not; surgeons not operating on aneurysms when they should.

Karim Brohi brings gives his perspective on the mindset of a trauma surgeon. He talks about how we can develop the self confidence that helps us cope with stressful clinical situations. It's an amusing and honest talk with plenty of Karim's self deprecating wit. If you like this talk, check out Scott Weingart's Kettlebells for the Brain, Cliff Reid's Making Things Happen and Oli Flower's Lessons from the Cage.

The development of Helicopter EMS (HEMS, or as the Federal Aviation Administration recently coined it: “Helicopter Air Ambulance” or “HAA”) services in the United States has taken a decidedly different path in recent years compared to those in other countries. The wide spread use of single engine, VFR only aircraft, owned and operated by for profit companies is a uniquely American phenomena; at odds with most other countries who have developed HEMS programs around the world. This has resulted in significant direct competition between HEMS programs, as well as highly questionable billing practices that have started to garner attention. The origins of this development, including the use of the US “Airline Deregulation Act” to prevent states from regulating HEMS programs will be examined. More recent efforts in the US to tie reimbursement and program accreditation to the levels of care provided and minimum standards of equipment are still nascent at this time. Efforts by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to mandate improved safety equipment standards have been met with resistance by the industry and the FAA. This has resulted in wide variability in US HEMS programs and the adoption of IFR standards, mandating NVG use, twin-engine aircraft and risk assessment strategies. There is also increasing scrutiny being placed on appropriate utilization criteria in the face of skyrocketing bills and questionable billing practices by for-profit companies.

Patients who present with pulseless electrical activity (PEA) arrest have a high mortality. The treatment of PEA requires finding and reversing the underlying cause, therefore a simple and rapid approach is required. Traditionally we were taught to use the H's and the T's, but this diagnostic tool is cumbersome and of questionable utility overall.

This talk will discuss the problems with the traditional H's and T's as well as focusing on newer approaches to PEA arrest. The speaker will discuss tools such as bedside ultrasound and using the width of the QRS complex to rapidly workup and treat patients in PEA arrest.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is commonly encountered when managing the patient with an acute critical illness. The impact of PH on cardiac function can be devastating if it is not quickly recognized. The goal of this talk is to arm clinicians with some simple techniques to predict and assess for complications of PH, identify the resuscitation targets in a crashing patient with PH, and finally review some major pitfalls in the management of the patient with PH.